His Secretary
by FrostyFingers
Summary: It was her first day at the new job at one of New York's best law firms and she was more than happy. It was a dream come true for Elizabeth, but would she be able to handle the pressure that came with her new assignment? Her boss didn't seem like the easiest person to get along with, but Liz often found herself being distracted by this enigma of a man...
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** I'm back with a new fic. I can't tell you why I'm unable to continue or wrap up my others, but please forgive me anyway. Let me know what you think about this one. If you guys like it, I will try to write more.

 **Disclaimer:** I neither own The Blacklist nor Secretary nor James Spader nor am I his secretary... what a shame

 **Chapter 1**

"Just once I want someone working here who isn't too stupid to take care of even the easiest tasks! Do you realize how much you embarrassed me? You're done!"

"But Mr. -"

"NO! You're done! I don't want to see your face around here ever again. Now pack your things and never come back, you're fired!"

It was her first day at the new job. She had just been hired as a typist for one of New York's best law firms and she was more than happy, even though she was very nervous as well. The shouting she had just heard coming from one of the offices hadn't helped with her nervousness, but still she pretended to be engrossed in her work, she didn't want to attract too much attention just yet.

The door opened and out of the corner of her eye she could see a woman hurrying out, the sound of her cries echoing through the hallways.

"You. What's your name?"

Slowly she raised her head, unsure if she was being talked to. For a moment she was taken aback. The man glaring at her was _gorgeous_. He was tall, but not too tall, had a broad chest and was neither thin nor thick. His hair was neatly cut, but not slicked back like she had seen on one of the other lawyers working there and his eyes, though blazing with fire, had kindness in them. She wondered if they were either greenish or blue.

"Are you deaf?! Yes, I'm talking to you."

That pulled her out of her thoughts. "Elizabeth. Elizabeth Scott," she replied, hoping her voice was steadier than her legs felt.

Something crossed his face, but soon the hardness was back. "It's your lucky day then, Scott. You've just been promoted." Then he turned and walked back into his office, leaving the door open.

Elizabeth was left staring after him, unsure of what to do.

"Are you coming?!"

She shoved her chair back and hurried into the office, fiddling with the cuffs of her blouse.

He was scribbling something on a piece of paper, not paying her attention for the time being. "Talk to Marvin about the Zamani case, I need the files complete and in order together with notes on the progress and -"

"Excuse me," she interrupted, earning herself another dirty look. "Mr. ..."

He gave her a once over, starting at her polished shoes and moving up, making her feel as if he was undressing her with his eyes. "Who exactly hired you?"

The brunette licked her lips. "I had my interview with Mr. Zuma," she replied, remembering the man's kind dark eyes and gentle voice. "It's my first day actually."

"Then I sure hope, for your own sake, that you're a quicker learner than that Barbie was."

"Sir -"

"I expect you to come in before me and arrange everything so I can get started right away. You're also to stay and finish up after I've left. You're getting your own phone, which you'll never switch off or put on silent as you're expected to always be reachable. There might be emergencies in the middle of the night, I will not wait on you to shove that perfect, tiny body into one of those ridiculous outfits, so make sure to be prepared." She blushed at that, but he didn't seem to care. "You're my assistant, you're supposed to look the part, I don't need someone looking like either a hooker or a mother of six teenage boys. Your behavior and work is a representation of my business, it better be on point. Is that clear?"

Her heart was racing, she could feel it in her chest. "I understand. Sir..."

"Reddington. The name is Reddington."

She almost choked on her own breath as he spoke the words. It couldn't be.

"I take my coffee black with sugar."

Raymond Reddington.

"Was I unclear with my instructions?" He asked, somewhat unnerved that she was still standing around doing nothing.

Liz shook herself out of her state. "No, Sir. I'll get you that coffee right away, Sir." She exited the office and softly closed the door behind her, taking a moment to breathe. Surely she must be dreaming, there was just no way she was supposed to work for that man now. It was only her first day at Reddington&Zuma and she had just been promoted to be the personal assistant of the man himself!

 **LizzingtonLizzingtonLizzington**

After snapping out of it, Liz had hurried to find the kitchen area, so she could make that coffee, she didn't want her new boss to wait after all. When she came back, he was talking on the phone in a rather animated manner and he didn't acknowledge her at all. His desk was plastered with all sorts of things, so she was left standing next to him, holding a cup of steaming coffee in her hand. When he hung up, he began stacking various papers without really looking.

"These are the files that what's-her-name couldn't file properly. Go through them, catalog them and make sure they're in the right order, before getting them back to me. After that get Marvin's inside information and prepare them for me so I can work through them quickly and efficiently."

She nodded, taking the files and putting them under her free arm. "Your coffee."

He yanked the cup from her fingers, almost spilling some of the hot liquid. "Did you want an award for that?!"

Steadying her grip on the files, she made to leave. "I'll get onto your files right away, Sir."

 **LizzingtonLizzingtonLizzington**

It was roughly three hours later, when someone came into his office without knocking and Raymond found himself looking at his long time friend and partner.

"You look like you need it, Raymond," he said, handing him a glass of scotch.

"Thank you, my brother. It's been one hell of a day."

"Mary being a pain in the ass again?"

Raymond snorted. "That good for nothing woman... who did she blow to get this job anyway?"

"Not me, that is for sure," Dembe said with a laugh.

"I fired her."

The dark man sighed. "Another one, Raymond? I am not playing file bunny for you again. And you better leave Marvin out of this, because I do not want him shuffling papers around for a quarter of a million bucks a year."

Raymond waved him off. "Already got someone for that."

Dembe raised a brow at him. "Really? Who is it? It better not be Kate!"

Chuckling, he took a sip from the amber liquid. "Long-legged brunette."

He thought for a moment and then it clicked. "Elizabeth? Elizabeth Scott? Raymond, she's the new girl."

He shrugged. "Figured as much."

Dembe groaned. "It's her first day! Which brain did you use for that choice?"

"Oh, shut up."

"She doesn't even have an office yet, Raymond."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "Where's she working then?"

 **LizzingtonLizzingtonLizzington**

He got his answer fifteen minutes later, when he walked into the file room, where he found his new assistant sitting on the floor, only a couple of sheets were scattered around whereas most of them were stacked neatly, with little post-its sticking out. Intrigued, he walked up to her and crouched down, startling her out of her trance.

"You're making progress," he stated, his voice softer than she had heard before.

"I've worked through your files on Zamani and am about halfway through with the ones Marvin gave me. If it's alright, I'll have them on your desk in about twenty minutes."

If he was being honest with himself, he had half expected to find her bawling her eyes out, but instead this young woman was not only beautiful, but also smart. "That's good work, Ms. Scott," he said.

She blushed and looked away, unable to hold his gaze any longer. "Thank you, Sir."

Now that she wasn't looking, he let his eyes drop to her thighs, eyeing the milky flesh where the skirt had ridden up, exposing it. "Why don't you get some lunch and finish this later?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "I'd rather finish it right away, Sir."

The three letters sounded so sweet, dropping off her full lips. Raymond couldn't resist leaning in closer and inhaling her sweet scent. From this close he could feel her holding her breath and he had a perfectly good view down the front of her blouse as well. "Ms. Scott."

"Sir?"

"Next time... less sugar."


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** I'm trying to update all of my fics and this one was next on my list. I hope you'll like it. Let me know if you have any request for what you'd like to read. Special thanks to my dude, tmmachado, for brainstorming with me. Obrigada minha amiga!

 **Chapter 2**

A couple of weeks into her new job, Liz was already a fully integrated member of the team. Everyone cherished her work effort and punctuality as well as her cleverness and Dembe Zuma, bless his heart, was the sweetest man she had ever met. Even when his best friend, which happened to be Liz's boss, got into a mood, the tall man always found a way to intervene and get her out of harm's way. He would try to explain to Liz that Mr. Reddington wasn't a bad person per se, but sometimes struggled getting his feelings under control. So far Liz hadn't been of the brunt of the older man's wrath, but when Reddington was mad, he was mad at everything and everyone. She had learned that the hard way.

 **Flashback**

 _The shouting could be heard through the whole building and people were basically hovering behind their desks, hiding behind their computers as if they were afraid to be seen. Liz wasn't oblivious to what was going on, but it wasn't her business, so she just kept on working as if there hadn't been glass shattering against a wall. The bad thing was that she needed her boss' signature on an important file, but she couldn't just waltz into the office occupied by Mr. Reddington and what Liz had found out was his ex-wife. Apparently, they didn't get along after the separation and she wondered why that woman was even bothering him then._

 _Suddenly the door flew open and banged into a wall and a furious looking woman came out, stopping at the sight of Liz at the desk just outside Reddington's office._

 _"Oh, look at that," the woman spat. "Did he fuck you yet?"_

 _Liz' mouth dropped open. "Excuse me?"_

 _"If you had been that passionate while we were still together, we wouldn't even be here," came from inside the office._

 _Carla Reddington turned around to look at her ex-husband. "If you were able to get it up, maybe that would've been an option." She turned back to stare at Liz who looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "Honey, he's not worth it. And sleeping your way up won't work if he can't get his dick up."_

 _"CARLA!"_

 _"It gets kind of disappointing if you keep sucking and nothing is happening."_

 _'Oh my god…' Liz thought, wishing that she could just disappear through a void in the ground._

 _"Sign the papers," she said over her shoulder before she walked off._

 _Liz couldn't move, could barely breathe as her boss' eyes locked on hers. She hadn't seen the man this mad before and she was unsure how to proceed._

 _"What the hell are you looking at?! Don't you have better things to do than eavesdrop?! I'm not paying you to stand around in your tiny skirts doing nothing. This isn't a street-walkers' patch."_

 _She gasped at his harsh words and to her horror she could even feel tears prick at the back of her eyes, but still she couldn't seem to get her legs to move._

 _"Ah, thank you, Elizabeth," Dembe suddenly appeared behind her and took the file from her hands. "I'll discuss the details with Raymond and then I'll meet you back in your office."_

 _She barely nodded, before abruptly turning and walking away._

 _Dembe sighed and entered his friend's office, closing the door behind him. "What are you doing, Raymond?"_

 _"What I'm doing is trying to work here, what the hell does it look like?!"_

 _"You need to calm yourself, my brother."_

 _"Don't tell me what to do."_

 _Dembe sat down in one of the arm chairs. "It is not Elizabeth's fault that you married a vile woman."_

 _Red huffed. "I know it's not!"_

 _"Then why are you treating that poor girl like that?" He asked. "She is the best office assistant we had in a long time, maybe ever. And you disrespect her in the most horrible way. Do you want her to leave?"_

 _It was as if all anger suddenly drained from him and Red slumped into this chair. "Of course not."_

 _"Then you should treat her better."_

 _He shook his head. "What she heard… what Carla said…"_

 _"I don't believe Elizabeth cares about what your ex-wife said. She does however care about what you say. And right now, I am rather sure you managed to make her cry."_

 _Red grimaced. "Don't say that. I can't handle crying women."_

 _"You should apologize, Raymond."_

 _"I don't know how."_

 _Dembe chuckled. "You're a sophisticated man, Raymond, I do think you know how to use your words."_

 **LIZZINGTONLIZZINGTONLIZZINGTON**

 _He knocked and waited a beat before opening the door. "Ms. Scott?"_

 _"Anything you need, Sir?"_

 _He winced at the tears in her voice. Of course, he had made her cry and now he had to fix it somehow, but emotions weren't really his friends. "Do you have a minute?"_

 _"I'll be with you in a moment," she replied._

 _"No. I mean… can we talk? Now?" He took a step closer to where she was standing at the window and in the reflection, he could see a tear making its way down her cheek before she wiped it away with the back of her hand. He swallowed thickly as he waited for her reply._

 _"Okay," she finally answered._

 _"Ms. Scott…" He sighed. "I apologize. I was out of line."_

 _He watched her drew in a calming breath. "Okay," she repeated._

 _"Do you forgive my ill behavior?"_

 _"If that's what you want to hear, sure."_

 _Something tugged at the inside of his chest and he wasn't sure he like that feeling. "I don't want you to say that because you think I want to hear it."_

 _She turned to look at him and he could see the evidence of her tears in her red rimmed eyes. "You can't say these things and think you can apologize and everything is forgotten. That's not how it works."_

 _"Then what should I do?" He asked softly._

 _"I don't know… Is there anything you needed, Mr. Reddington?"_

 _He sighed. "Uhm… I… good work on the Wujing case."_

 _"Thank you," she said with some sort of finality._

 _Red nodded and turned to leave the room but stopped before he opened the door. "I do apologize, Ms. Scott."_

 **End Flashback**

The air between them had been somewhat icy since then. He had given her some space and she had continued being nothing but professional, even though she was still hurt by what he had said. It had been weeks since what she called 'the incident' and she hated that they were still estranged. They had been working so closely together before and she missed that. Missed when he smiled at her smart comments or witty comebacks. More than anything she missed how he looked at her when he thought she wasn't watching.

Lost in thought, she almost jumped out of her skin as the intercom came to live.

"Ms. Scott, my office, please."

She quickly gathered her notes on their current case and made her way to his office. "You called, Sir?"

"Yes. Come in and close the door." She did as she was told. "I need you to find me the contact information of that witness… Mr. what's-his-name."

"Kline," she offered, walking further into the room.

"Kline, yes." He looked up from his files and frowned. "Are you alright?"

"Sorry?"

"You look like you're in pain," he said, his focus now solely on her.

Liz blushed. "Oh… uhm I think I slept funnily."

"Are you sure?" He asked and she nodded. "Alright. Where are we on the Richards case?"

"All the paperwork is filed, we're waiting to hear back from the opposing counsel, but they'll probably settle."

"Wonderful. Good work, Ms. Scott."

"I'll get you the contact data now."

It only took her about twenty minutes to find out everything she needed, so she found herself back in her boss' office before lunchtime.

"Mr. Reddington, I have the information you needed."

"Ah, yes, thank you." He held out his hand and Liz handed over the thin manila folder. Apparently, she had let go before he had the chance to grab it, because suddenly the folder was on the floor with papers strewn everywhere.

"Shit." Liz knelt down, momentarily forgetting her pain, but hissing at the movement jarred her body.

He was at her side immediately, helping her pick up the papers. "Everything okay?"

"Sure. Sorry about that."

"It's fine," he replied. "Ms. Scott, why are there bruises on your arms?"

The question threw her and for a moment she forgot to breathe. "Oh… I just bruise easily."

"Mh… must have been one hell of a funny sleeping position for you to bruise both of your arms like that."

She stopped moving then, freezing right in the action of reaching out for another sheet of paper, her eyes catching sight of where her sleeve had ridden up, showing off a deep purple bruise.

"Ms. Scott?"

To her defense, his voice had been extra soft and there was nothing that could've stopped that damn tear from dropping from her eye and straight onto the paperback of the manila folder, leaving a dark patch.

His lips parted at the sight of her anguish and he quickly reached out to touch her by the shoulder, trying to ignore how she flinched at the unexpected touch. "It's alright. Come on, let's sit on the couch. Come." He led her over to the sofa and closed the blinds so that no one that happened to walk by could see them. By now her eyes were full of tears and it tore at his heart. "Talk to me."

She shook her head, clearly fighting to stay in control.

"Elizabeth," he said gently. "It's okay. You can tell me." A sob tearing from her throat caught both of them by surprise and Red quickly reached over to grab a tissue for her. "Here. Would you like a drink? Some tea perhaps? Hot chocolate?" She shook her head again. "Alright. Take your time. It's alright."

"I'm not sure where to start…" She said quietly. Never before had she told anyone about the kind of relationship she had with her boyfriend. Everyone thought Tom was a total sweetheart and that he would never lay a single finger on her. The first time it happened he had been drunk and afterwards he had apologized at least a dozen times. It happened more frequently then though, sometimes during sex, but a lot of times it happened when they were fighting. After a while she found herself drifting off into a dark place and she would catch herself irritating her boyfriend just so he would explode and hit her again. So she told her boss what she had been experiencing in the past years, trying not to burst into tears at the embarrassment she was feeling.

"Why do you let him hurt you, Elizabeth?"

"I don't know," she whispered.

"Is it that sometimes the pain inside has to come to the surface... and when you see evidence of the pain inside... you finally know you're really here? Then when you watch the bruises fade it's comforting, isn't it?"

She wondered how that enigma of a man could make sense of what she was feeling inside. How he could put in words the things she thought about when she was lying awake in bed at night. "I... that's a way to put it."

"I'm going to tell you something. Are you ready to listen?"

"Yes."

"Are you listening?" He asked and she nodded. "You will never... ever... let him beat you again. Do you understand? Have I made that perfectly clear? You're over that now. It's in the past."

"Yes."

"Never again."

"Okay."

"Now, you know what I want you to do? I want you to leave work early. I want you  
to take a nice walk home, in the fresh air, because you require relief. Because you won't be  
doing that anymore, will you?"

"No, Sir."

"Good," he said ever so softly, giving her a smile that left her with butterflies in her stomach.


End file.
